Below are the details about how we came up with this mask and also the one for non-acne prone skin. If you are a regular customer you can skip all of this, since you already know how good our products are and that they are fully guaranteed.

Our very first product back in 1999 was an scrub for acne. Eventually we discovered that is helped many other skin problems. After many years of improvements, that product became very successful. We knew it worked well. What surprised us was how healthy it made the skin. Who ever heard of an acne product making the skin feel great and helping it to be healthy? So we introduced a modified version as an anti-aging scrub for those without acne. And it is a very popular product as well. If you want healthy skin, you should exfoliate. But what made us wonder was it possible to bottle the benefits of our scrubs into a mask? One that stayed on the skin and could be used one or more times a week, and even improved the skin more? Easy we thought? Not really. This is something we have been working on for years.

If you know something about masks you know they are typically composed of clay and water and sometimes oils. The clay if used alone, typically ‘pulls’ toxins out of the skin. At least that’s the idea. But what’s to keep the clay from pulling good nutrients from the skin?

Our goal was to make a mask that could be left on the skin for a few minutes or longer, and would leave the skin healthier. Easier said that done. We’ve tried for years to make this happen and until we did we wouldn’t just release an inferior product.

One of our customers suggested “if we could only make a concentrated version of our exfoliants, that would be the perfect mask!”. After many years of trying we decided to work backwards from our exfoliants. All of a sudden it became easy. Ok easier.

What we discovered was a concentrated version of our exfoliants, without the benzoyl peroxide, with a couple of different clays, would make an excellent mask. But we wanted it to be even better. We use an extract from the Elderflower plant in our exfoliants. We wanted to boost the Elderflower content.

Let me explain about the Elder Plant (Sambucus nigra). This plant grows many places in the world. In the 1800’s it was practically the only medicine they had. When sulfa drugs (and later more sophisticated antibiotics) became part of modern medicine in the 1920’s, the Elder plant was pretty much forgotten. Too bad, because there was a lot of good there. It was called the ‘medicine chest’ of the 1800’s. It’s berries were used to make wine (ElderBerry wine) and the wine was considered to have many health benefits. In addition there have been studies that seem to point to this plant having some protection against the Flu virus. They also used the flowers as a poultice to help heal skin problems. This was the part that interested us the most. This is why we originally added the extract to our exfoliants. We wanted to add a powdered version of the ElderFlower (and berries). Why not grind the flowers and berries and add them to the mask? We discovered that you couldn’t do this ahead of time. The benefit quickly faded. They had to be freshly ground right before mixing them into the mask. Not too much heat either. So it had to be added at the right moment. In other words, this is a pain to make. At least to make right.

We think we got it right. In fact our tests subjects all reported even more benefits than our exfoliants.

What we wanted to produce was: simply….younger looking, healthy skin.

Skin that healed fast: If you had an acne blemish it went away fast. If you scratched your skin while shaving, it healed right away. The faster the skin heals the less likely of scar formation. Skin cells reproducing at a faster rate is the secret to healthy skin. As we age our skin growth slows. Old skin is thin, so we wanted to maintain good skin flexibility. suppleness. We noted that many people report their skin glowing after using our scrubs. This is a good sign of healthy skin.

About pH:

Our moisturizers are pH balanced. If you remember your high school chemistry classes and the test strips you used to see how acid or alkaline a particular product was. Most of us don’t remember any real benefit in knowing this. But to quickly explain. The pH of a ingredient in measured from 0 to 14. Zero being the strongest acid and 14 being the strongest alkaline. Both extremes will burn the skin. Neutral is pH of 7. Almost all skin care products today lean acid. Typically between 2 and 6.5. We believe our bodies are being overwhelmed by acids. Everything is acid. The air we breathe the food we eat and the skin care products we apply to our skin. Is this overload of acid affecting the quality of our life? Our skin? We were amazed at how many adults suffer from acne and all sorts of skin problems. Is this related?

Ocean Water and your skin: A question we get frequently is ‘how did you guys came up with this line of products?’ I’m a fan of upside down thinking. It is human nature to fall in line and think like everyone else. The old expression of not seeing the forest for the trees is applicable here. Often real solutions are right before our eyes, but our mind is not trained (or ready) to see them.

I admit it….I can’t even take a day off at the beach without thinking about skin care! About 10 years ago we were on a family trip to swim at the Ocean for the day. Someone commented on our way home how wonderful their skin felt after an ocean swim. Everyone agreed. Especially after a shower washed all the salt off. And at that moment I wondered why. It was a light bulb moment! Was it the salt? Or was there something in the water? Why did our skin feel better even after taking a shower to wash off the ocean? It was a several days lasting effect. Our family suffers from acne prone skin (and many other skin problems) and I noticed our acne seemed to settle down after a day at the beach. Any cuts or abrasions also seemed to heal faster. Was it all the sun? Something in the water? The more I studied this the more it confounded me. What was in this experience that made a difference in the skin. And if it could be bottled, well it would help a lot of people, who couldn’t go for a swim in the ocean everyday.

Tests of sea water really didn’t give me many clues. Salt all by itself really didn’t help the skin too much. And too much sun was actually harmful to the skin. In fact the ‘ingredients’ in sea water seemed to be a lot of pollutants. If anything one would think this would leave the skin in a poorer state. What was it? We noticed the pH of sea water in Florida was about 8.3(but does vary from 7.5 to 8.4 worldwide). That was the one clue we didn’t understand at the time. Until we started testing skin care products and noticed all of them were mildly to very acidic. Vitamin C cream is about a pH of 3.

This is where we get to the ‘forest and the trees’ thing. Why were so many products skewed towards the acid range?And does this have any connection to the rise of adult acne and other skin problems today? I look at acne products and I see Glycolic acid and Salycic Acid. And even Benzoyl Peroxide solutions were acidic. Tea Tree oil, very acidic. Why was acid supposed to be a ‘cure’ for acne and why wasn’t it working? And many anti-aging products used acids like Retinols.

I’m in my late 50’s and as a teen in the 1960’s we just never saw adults with acne. We knew at about 18 or 19 acne was going to be over. Of course back then we had virtually nothing to control acne. Today is different. Often acne continues right into adulthood and sometimes until old age. We hear all the time about fighting acne and wrinkles at the same time. Sometimes we hear of adults who didn’t have acne in their teen years getting it as an adult. I had many years of being acne free and had adult onset acne in my late 30’s.

What happened? What is causing this and why isn’t anyone noticing it? (forest….trees) OK lets see, ocean water (mildly alkaline) makes the skin feel good and heal. Acid have some sort of association with acne? Seems like a no brainer. But no one seems to be noticing. What we have come to believe is the reason acids took such a prominent role in controlling all sorts of skin issues is that they do work remarkably well…..at first. But after continued use somehow affect the quality of the skin.

If you google ‘alkaline water’ today. You will see quite a few companies are selling devices and drops to change your drinking water to alkaline pH. There are books showing you how to eat an alkaline diet. This mask is alkaline, with a pH of 7.6. We think that is one of the reasons this mask feels so good.

Is alkaline good? Recently watching the news story about the two Mars rovers, I was struck by a comment from one of the scientists. He said analysis of the Martian soil showed that it was slightly alkaline. He said this was not what they originally thought to be the case. They pretty much assumed Martial soil to be acidic. He said the alkaline readings proved that life could exist could exist on Mars.

There I said it….. ‘alkaline’ means life!

Good Bacteria? We’ve all been conditioned to believe that all bacteria are bad. Kill them was what we were told. In fact, antibacterial products sell like crazy. Do they work? yes and no. Recently it has been reported that the human skin has about 4,000 different types of bacteria living on the surface. Billions of bacteria live on our skin, no matter how many showers we take. Some are vital for our existence and some are busy causing trouble. Recently science is coming to the conclusion that the good bacteria and bad bacteria are in a constant battle. We believe constantly applying acids and antibacterial products to the skin eventually cause the decline of good bacteria. Providing better odds for the bad bacteria to do their thing and cause all sorts of skin problems.

When the good bacteria and bad bacteria get out of balance, what happens? Some get acne, some see their skin age faster. Some get other skin problems. At this point, we just don’t know what all the ramifications are of constant contact with acidic products.

ingredients

INGREDIENTS (mask for acne prone skin):

ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS WE USE: Many companies talk about the natural ingredients they use. The question is how natural are they? Whenever possible we use the highest finest quality ingredients. For example Kukui Nut oil comes in two varieties. The Hawaiian version is the preferred one which we use. Other versions use chemicals to extract rather than just cold pressing the seeds. Many commonly used oils and butters by companies who call themselves natural, are so highly processed at such high temperatures that they are virtually worthless. All the goodness has been processed out of them. Most of our ingredients are we use are raw or unprocessed. The difference is evident in the quality of our products.

Reverse Osmosis Purified Water: When looking at other skin care products I always want to know how the water they use is purified(if at all). Is it filtered? How small a filter? Ozonated? Often the devil is in the details. We use only Reverse Osmosis purified water. Reverse Osmosis purified water is the gold standard for being clean and pure. So if we are talking microscopic differences why is it important? Reverse Osmosis water, we’ve found, works better than any other water to maximize the potential of the precious ingredients we use. It’s expensive, but we believe anything else is purely just cutting corners.

Castor oil (Ricinus communis L) This oil, derived from the castor bean and obtained by cold pressure, is rich in fatty acids and very moisturizing and lubricating to the skin in general. It acts as a humectant, attracting moisture to the skin. Rated extremely very low in Comedogenicity and Irritancy. Factors used to rate oils for their likelihood to cause acne due to allergies.

Glycerin: We use a vegetable derived variety. It should always say vegetable, otherwise it is always animal derived.

Stearic Acid: This is a vegetable derived wax from coconuts. it is used to make lotions creamier and help combine oils and water. Stearics are common in a lot of products. But most products use animal derived.

Kaolin Clay: cosmetic Variety from the UK

Broccoli Sprout Extract: Broccoli Sprouts are probably one of, if not the most healthy foods to consume. But there has been some interesting lab research showing Broccoli sprout extracts when applied to the skin help the skin avoid cancer from excess UV exposure. This isn’t a sunscreen, but seems to help the skin recover from too much sun exposure. We don’t know if that is true, but we do know that it seems to add a special something to our products. So what’s in it? Sulforaphane Vitamins A, B, C, E and K Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc Carotene, Chlorophyll, Amino Acids, Trace Elements, Antioxidants, Protein. What’s not to like?

Jojoba (pronounced ho ho ba): (Simmondsia chinensis) Jojoba oil consists of pure esters extracted from organic Jojoba seeds. We use a farm grown variety grown in Arizona. Pesticide free and first pressing from the finest seeds produced. First pressing means this is sort of like Extra Virgin. The very best we can find. The importance of Jojoba esters derives from their similarity to the natural restorative esters produced by the sebaceous glands in the dermal layers in the human skin.

Emulsifying wax NF; This is a vegetable based product that helps bind the oils together into a pleasing emulsion.

Elder Flowers and Berries freshly ground: We use organic version. Why is this plant being ignored in skin care today?

Cetyl Alcohol: Is a vegetable derived emollient used in many cosmetics. Years ago made from Whales, now derived from animals and coconut. We use ONLY the vegetable variety.

ALOE VERA, -skin softening and healing properties

Kukui Nut Oil: (Aleurites moluccana) Kukui nut oil, brought to Hawaii by early Polynesian settlers, is quickly absorbed into the skin. Kukui nut oil is high in linoleic and linolenic essential fatty acids. Excellent for skin conditioning after sun exposure, as well as for acne, eczema, psoriasis, hemorrhoids, dry/wrinkled skin and offers good protection for outdoor sports. It offers just the right amount of lubrication without leaving a greasy feeling. Excellent for chapped skin and may prevent scarring. It is very expensive, but makes our moisturizer extra special. We use the good stuff too from Hawaii (at about $140 gallon, it has to kept under lock and key). To show you how far we go to find the best products, here is an example. This Kukui Nut oil is also available from other countries at about half the price, but it is solvent extracted (we don’t use solvent extracted oils, just expeller pressed products). Instead of a light sweet smell, like the good stuff from Hawaii, it has a heavy chemical odor. We won’t touch it.

Babassu: (Orbignya martiana, O. oleifera, or O. speciosa), a/k/a Babacu, Coco de macaco, Aguassu. Babassu is a big palm tree about 20 meters high native to the rain forests of Brazil. Babassu oil is cold pressed from the kernel which contains about 72% lipids (in weight) and is ultra-refined w/o chemicals. Rated extremely very low in Comedogenicity and Irritancy. Perfect for acne prone skin.

Sunflower Oil (Helianthus annuus): It contains vitamins A, C, D, and E, a high linoleic acid content, and few saturated fatty acids. This oil is easily absorbed and can be used on all skin types. Its high vitamin E content makes it especially helpful for delicate and dry skin. It has a protective effect on the skin and is healing when applied to leg ulcers, bruises and skin diseases. Rated extremely very low in Comedogenicity and Irritancy.

Bentonite Clay

Palmegranate Seed Oil- we just started working with this fabulous oil. VERY expensive. Almost $200 a gallon. An amazing ingredient.

Green Tea

Orchid Extract: Cymbidium Grandiflorum Flower Extract. This orchid extract is an infusion of Cymbidium orchids into fractionated coconut oil. Orchids have long been used for reparative and protective properties, moisturizing, fighting free radicals, and reducing the appearance of fine lines. High end skin care products use wonderful botanicals like orchids because of their superior profile, rich in minerals and moisturizing compounds. About $200 a gallon.

Optiphen and Germal Plus as preservatives. We use the finest ingredients available anywhere. But they are mostly in their raw state. So they are subject to degradation. We have to use preservatives to prevent bacteria growth. Some products claim they don’t use anything but natural preservatives. Well the way they get away with it is they use so overly processed ingredients that they are virtually sterile when they mix them in due to the high temperatures they are processed with. It all sounds good on the label. But the reality is those ingredients are natural in name only. You cannot use the quality of ingredients we use and not have them fully protected. These preservatives we use are gentle and paraben free.

Honestly, its so so so good for your skin. My skin eats it up. any time I have a flareup, or redness or even if im having a good skin day, it gives it this boost like ive had an expensive facial. I like to use this after the tea tree scrub. Its got so many nutrients in it that normal masks lack. Don't expect it to harden and leave it on as long as you can. Its a touch messy and glorious and truly works wonders in a very quick time.

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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Another Great Product

October 9, 2019

Reviewer:
Elan from Michigan

I’ve been using this mask in conjunction with other Carley products. I use this mask at least once a week. It does what it says! My skin definitely show the benefits!

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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Skin looks and feels so fresh after!

September 2, 2019

Reviewer:
Emily Moore from St Louis, MO

I use this mask about once a week. I honestly should use it more, but I'm lazy so that's how often it happens, it goes on smooth, you don't need much as it is very thick. You can feel it working right away! The directions say you only need to leave it on for 20 minutes but I usually do 20-30 to get the maximum benefit. I run it into my skin at the end and then rinse off. My skin looks and feels amazing afterwards, takes away some of the redness I tend to get and looks dewey and fresh. Definitely worth a try! Good job on another well made product, Carley's!